07:21 AM EDT, 05/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The US benchmark stock measures inched higher before Thursday's open as traders await several key economic reports.

The S&P 500 futures and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were both slightly in the green, while the Nasdaq edged up 0.1% in the premarket. Asian exchanges were trending upwards, while European bourses were mostly heading south.

On the economic calendar, the housing starts and permits for April posts at 8:30 am ET, along with the weekly jobless claims bulletin, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index for May and the import and export prices report for last month.

The industrial production report for April is out at 9:15 am, followed by the weekly EIA domestic natural-gas supplies report at 10:30 am.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair of Supervision Michael Barr and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin are scheduled to speak at 10 am, while Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker speaks at 10:30 am. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester is set to speak at 12 pm and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks at 3:50 pm.

Shares of Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) advanced 4.3% pre-bell after the provider of networking, cloud and security solutions reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results. Nvidia ( NVDA ) edged up 0.4% while Block (SQ) rose 0.3%.

Walmart ( WMT ) , Deere & Co. (DE), JD.com ( JD ) , Baidu ( BIDU ) and Under Armour ( UAA ) report their latest financial results early Thursday, among others. Applied Materials ( AMAT ) , Copart ( CPRT ) and Take-Two Interactive Software ( TTWO ) post earnings in the afterhours.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin increased 0.3% to $66,239, West Texas Intermediate crude retreated 0.5% to $78.26 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries declined 1.8 basis points to 4.34% and gold nudged 0.4% lower to $2,386 an ounce.